From the London Telegraph:
Ireland's new government on a collision course with EU
Ireland's new government is headed for confrontation with Brussels after the country's ruling party was wiped out on Saturday by voters in a huge popular backlash against a European-IMF austerity programme.
Fianna Fail which has been the dominate ruling party for 60 of Ireland's 80 years of independence has just been destroyed.
That's the fate a political party deserves when it bails out the banksters and assumes their massive debts.
This election was about the bailout, and whether it will happen or not there is an overwhelming desire by a large part of the Irish people to renegotiate the 'deal' that saved the banksters, the Euro, and sunk the Irish people.
From the Telegraph:
David McWilliams, an economist and former official at the Ireland's Central Bank, has led calls for a popular vote under Article 27 of the Irish constitution, which requires on a matter of "such national importance that the will of the people ought to be ascertained".
"We have to re-negotiate everything," he said. "Obviously, the first way to do this is to make them aware that if they force us to pay everything, we will default and they will get nothing. So they had better get a little bit of something, than all of nothing. To make this financial pill easier to swallow, we must take the initiative politically. We can do this via a referendum.
"If the Irish people hold a referendum on the bank debts now, we can go to the EU with a mandate from the people which says No. This will allow our politicians to play hard-ball, because to do otherwise would be an anti-democratic endgame."
Declan Ganley, another prominent Irish leader has said:
Ireland must "have the balls" to threaten debt default and withdrawal from the single currency.
"We have a hostage, it is called the euro," he said. "The euro is insolvent. The only question is whether Ireland should be sacrificed to keep the Ponzi scheme going. We have to have a Plan B to the misnamed bailout, which is to go back to the Irish Punt."
Zero Hedge wonders what the German PM must be fretting about with this election outcome:
Angela Merkel is carefully observing what can only be classified as a peaceful revolution in Ireland, where a stunning amount, over 70% by some estimates, of voters turned out to punish the ruling Fianna Fail party for its betrayal of the Irish people and for the latest (and what some say last) broad banker bailout.
Merkel has a problem in that her party suffered a crushing election loss about a week ago, because the German citizenry is sick and tired of bailing out countries like Ireland. So she can't renegotiate the deal.
The Germans, the Brits, and the rest of Europe desperately need the Irish to remain enslaved to this deal. If the Irish default, German, British, French, and other banks go boom and become double, triple insolvent.
And a Euro, bankster meltdown could be brought to a boil real soon. The Telegraph:
At a summit of centre-right EU leaders in Helsinki next Friday, Mr Enda Kenny will use his position as Ireland's new Prime Minister to beg the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, for concessions ahead of an emergency March 11 Brussels summit to restructure the euro zone.
But neither the two European leaders nor the European Central Bank or EU will permit any substantial changes, despite the huge popular Irish revolt against the bailout.
Chancellor Merkel will tell Mr Kenny that if he wants to reduce the high, punitive 5.8 per cent interest rate charged on EU loans then Ireland will have to give up its low corporate tax rates - a measure regarded as vital to Ireland's recovery and one of the few economic policies it has not yet handed over to Brussels or Frankfurt.
The new Irish premier will also be warned that there is no question of forcing privately-owned financial institutions to assume Ireland's £85 billion bank debts because the resulting market panic would spread to Germany and France, tearing the euro single currency apart.
This is going to be an interesting if not flat out terrifying month in global financial markets. The Euro might implode because of this showdown, the US is going to run out of money for day to day operations next week, and then the US smashes into its debt limit in April.
For now I think I'll add to my Euro short.
Update:
Can't find a complete list, but this is an idea of the exposure of some European banks to the Irish debt:
German banks exposure $139 billion
English banks exposure $148 billion
And if the Irish get a debt do over, the rest of the PIIGS will want a debt do over.
This is my favorite man in the street interview from the last year. He's the perfect example of how the Irish felt about how this bankster Ponzi crime went down.
Links:
http://www.zerohedge.com/...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/...